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Shattered Star #38: Revenge

At the end of last session, we left our heroes on the beach having safely disembarked from the Mermaid’s Mistress. With their final plans laid, and a sumptuous meal consumed courtesy of a powerful magic scroll cast by Grooble, they set out through the swamp.

Led by Zainnis, they easily returned to the hydra’s cave. Brief hopes of selling some of the heads to the Jaggere Museum in Ountsy ended when they discovered the heads decomposing and rotten. With their hopes of an easy payday dashed, the party pushed on through the caverns and eventually reached the shaft leading down into the dungeon. This they navigated easily and rapidly made their descent into the dungeon.

Reaching the bottom, they were shocked to discover the stone bands placed over the sarcophagus smashed and broken. The lid has also been pushed slightly open. Nervously, the party investigated as they feared some diabolical, fiendish evil or trap lurked within. To their relief, no horrible events befell them and the body of the woman yet remained untouched within. Karelia—after some arcane investigations—pronounced the body to be a clone of none other than Sorshen herself!

With this revelation even Grooble—already unnerved by the sarcophagus and its contents—resolved to stay well away and to not loot it, not even a little bit. Closing the lid, the party pushed on and reached the beach by the stream without further incident. However, at this point the turbulent waters of the subterranean lake barred their further progress. After a brief chat, the party came up with a clever way to cross the lake without being swept over the falls. Narfu, Zainnis and Thaladan carefully took to one of the boats moored on the beach and hammered in pitons to one of the cavern walls. From these they hung rope to use as a guide to get to the beach which led to the rest of the complex.

This they did and quickly explored the bulk of the rest of the complex. It became evident that something yet lurked in the area. Several doors were closed and the portcullis that had so bedevilled the party during their last expedition was down. However, all these obstacles were overcome with relative ease.

Eventually, the party reach the double doors leading to the seugathi’s lair and made their final preparations. With all protective magics now cast, they tried to burst through the doors but Peta discovered they were wedged with something. Karelia forced the doors with a knock spell and battle was joined!

In the corridor beyond—surrounded by a faint mist—lurked the seugathi! Peta charged the beast but immediately collapsed as a sigil began to glow on a wall at the end of the corridor. Narfu and Thaladan immediately joined their companion and both managed to resist whatever magics lurked in the sigil (which Karelia quickly identified as a symbol of sleep).

To make matters worse, Thaladan quickly realised the seugathi was not real—it was some kind of illusion! With this revelation, four zombies—the animate, decomposing corpses of the party’s dead companions shambled forth from side rooms to destroy their once-friends! However, their grasp on unlife was tenuous: Grooble lashed them with divine energy before Narfu and Thaladan cut them down. By now, the real seugathi had emerged from a side room, but this time it was no match for the party. With its mind-affecting powers mainly nullified by the party’s protections it was forced to resort to melee. Struck by several arrows fired by Zainnis it couldn’t withstand Thxaladan’s furious assault. In short order, it was slain and the party victorious.

Gathering the shards for which they had risked so much (and much of the equipment of their companions along with the strange book that radiated overwhelmingly powerful magic) the party beat a hasty retreat to rest, recuperate and plot their next move…

Creighton is the publisher at Raging Swan Press and the designer of the award winning adventure Madness at Gardmore Abbey. He has designed many critically acclaimed modules such as Retribution and Shadowed Keep on the Borderlands and worked with Wizards of the Coast, Paizo, Expeditious Retreat Press, Rite Publishing and Kobold Press.

Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

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